Iowa State Fairgrounds

One of  my favorite spots for sketching is the Iowa State Fairgrounds, on the east side of Des Moines. Every year the Fair generates more than a million in attendance over it's 10 day run, the crowds topping a hundred thousand most days. But the rest of the year the old fairgrounds are peaceful and shady under hundreds of old trees surrounding huge exhibition buildings. One of my particular favorites is the Agriculture Building, which hosts all manner of exhibitions from flowers to enormous pumpkins. It's a giant two-story masonry affair, and on it's south side is a wonderful demonstration garden run by the local Master Gardeners. 

"Discovery Garden," wc/ink on paper

Last Saturday the sketchers went nearly en masse to scout spots to draw and paint. I chose a shady spot with a decent breeze and did a corner of the garden. As ever, I did a modified version of the background building and surrounding garden in graphite, then painted the scene, trying to capture both color and value. Showing three-dimensional volume is difficult for me in watercolor unless I manage to pay sufficient attention to my darks. 

Behind the Museum

The Des Moines Art Center has three connected buildings surrounding a courtyard. The first building was designed by Eliel Saarinen, a well-known Finnish architect, in the 1940s. About twenty years later, the Art Center commissioned I.M. Pei, who would become world famous for his work, which includes remodelling the entrance to the Louvre. The third building was designed by Richard Meier, famed for deisgning the Gettyn Museum in California as well as many other buildings.

"Behind the Museum," oil on panel, 12x16

The Pei Building is in the brutalist style--angular, unpainted concrete, unusual shapes, and so on, with an array of enormous windows facing south down the slope of Greenwood Park and its rose garden. My Saturday sketch group meets there weekly before dispersing, and sometimes we stay in the garden behind the museum. This painting is a studio version of a watercolor sketch I did there one Saturday last year. The Pei Building is the angular, pale ochre building in the background.  

Pei did something clever with the poured concrete. Concrete is composed of cement, sand, and aggregrate (commonly called gravel); Pei used aggregrate identical to the midwestern limestone of the first building, which gives the concrete a warm yellowish tone.  

Sketch Outing

"Toward Downtown," wc/ink on paper, 5x8

As we always do, the Saturday sketchers met at the Des Moines Art Center last weekend, then spent time sketching around the city. Sometimes most of us go to the same location but other times we disperse. This time I was planning on working among the taller buildings downtown. But as I drove toward the city center the view above seemed inviting, so I pulled over and did yet another Des Moines skyline, The site was a busy thoroughfare but I changed it somewhat, making the street seem quieter. This particular angle on the skyline is somewhat different than some others I've done. 
 

Spire

"Spire," wc/ink on paper, ~8x3.5

As readers of this blog might imagine, the subject of this watercolor sketch dominates the skyline in Des Moines. It's the 801 Grand Building, sometimes called the Principal Building, situated in the center of the cluster of downtown high rises. Being the tallest building in the state, it's not surprising that you can see it from nearly any place nearby. A while back I wanted to visit a downtown garden but found it closed, so I sat in a convenient spot and did a small study of the 801 building in my pocket sketchbook. 

The paper in this tiny book is a bit lighter than I usually employ for watercolor. The color muddiness of the skyscraper is likely the result.

Imagination

"Fall," wc/ink on paper, 3.5x5

Sometimes, when no obvious subject for drawing or sketching is available, imagination serves. One day, while between oil paintings, I was casting about for a subject but none came. So I did this little study of autumn from memories. I fiddled about and added color swatches here and there with watercolor, then realized it resembled a traditional landscape, and the warmth of the toned paper suggested autumn. After some thought I added the trees and figures in ink. 
 

Summer Garden

"Summer Garden," wc/ink on paper ~8x5

This small watercolor is a quick sketch of a corner of one of my flower gardens at home. The black-eye susans and lillies bud and flower at nearly the same time every summer--around now. This was done in a small pocket sketchbook, using my standard techniques.

Downstream

"Downsteam," oil on panel, 9x12

This springtime view of the streambed of Druid Hill Creek was done during the early days when foliage on the honeysuckle undergrowth was just emerging. I set up my pochade box just above, on the bank. The rock in the stream has fallen from rip rap that was used along the banks for erosion control. The stream is maybe six inches deep.